Sunday - Indian Creek

[Quillback]

Got out Sunday morning, really nice day, very little wind and warming up as the day went on.

There was striper activity right out in front of the Indian creek ramp and all around that area.  Scattered fish coming up on top, and from what I could tell they were chasing fairly small shad as in 1-2" shad.  I spent probably a good hour and a half chasing those things, but they would not touch anything I threw. Water is very clear in that area, fish were spooky, very tough to get within casting distance even with the TM set at low, I could get some close to the boat if I slowly approached them, and then let the boat drift in, but still could not get them to eat anything.  If I could do it all over again, I'd bring some small spoons, grubs, and marabou jigs and give them a shot.  Anyway, if you're looking for stripers they are there at the mouth of Indian.

Gave up on the stripers and went back in Indian to chase smallies, which was my reason for launching there.  Never did find much of a bite, caught 3 smallies in the 12-14" range on jigs and Ned. 

Caught a nice walleye (released) pictured above, I was swimming a jig back to the boat when he hit it.  I'm also pretty sure I had another  good one on earlier that got off.  I believe that if a person went back in Indian and worked a swim jig with a paddle tail trailer around the rocks and trees you have a decent chance at putting a good walleye or two in the boat.  It's not going to be a numbers game, and you're going to have to fish hard, but the opportunity is there.  I might give it another shot later this week and target some walleye (maybe I'll catch a good smallie if I chase wallies ).

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[Stump bumper]

What does the water look like up there? Is it brown like the rest of the lake?

[Quillback]

Very clear around the dam, 10 feet of viz maybe, that's just an estimate, but it is pretty clear.  Back in Indian the water is more of a stained green, maybe 5 feet of viz.

[Stump bumper]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Very clear around the dam, 10 feet of viz maybe, that's just an estimate, but it is pretty clear.  Back in Indian the water is more of a stained green, maybe 5 feet of viz.

That is a lot better than south of RT12 bridge where I can barley see my trolling motor. That could be what is holding the stripers that far North. Hunting for shad right now is hard because I can't get shallow enough to see the bottom so that is less than 3 feet of water on a clear sunny day.

[Dan the fisherman]

Nice Wallie Quill.  Thanks for the report.   Interesting that the Striper are still up that far north.  I’ve always kinda had a feeling that some never left though.  I’ve heard guys catching them in the point 6 and RB area also.  I’ve been getting them from point 10 to point 12.  Sounds like they’re scattered throughout the lake.  

[Ozark Flyer]

Seriously?  Thought I saw your boat pass my house.....didn’t know they were this far up the river yet.

[Quillback]

10 hours ago, Dan the fisherman said:

Nice Wallie Quill.  Thanks for the report.   Interesting that the Striper are still up that far north.  I’ve always kinda had a feeling that some never left though.  I’ve heard guys catching them in the point 6 and RB area also.  I’ve been getting them from point 10 to point 12.  Sounds like they’re scattered throughout the lake.  

There's stripers that will spend all winter in Indian creek.  A couple of them are probably swimming around with one of my jerkbaits in their jaws from a few years ago. 

[Ham]

Walleye will hit the darndest things. You should that short fat Keitech at them. Everything like to hit Keitechs.

[kjackson]

Haven't fished Beaver since we moved north, and I do miss fishing in clear water. Truman and LOZ aren't the same. Your post brought back some pleasant memories.

 Thought this might be worth a quick note-- the largest two smallies I hooked in Beaver came out of Honey Creek. I found others there as well...never did much in Indian.  Thinking on it, I just realized that most of the smallmouth I caught in Beaver came from the east side of the lake...and that's weird.  

[Quillback]

I've caught a few 3 lb. smalls back in Indian, but never any monsters. I've gotten a couple on the point by the bluff at the entrance of Honey creek, but never did well further back in that cove, but it has always looked good back there.  Once I get back in Indian, I can spend the whole day in there, so much fishy looking cover to work through, but it's never easy to catch a bunch.